Lindacakes

Ruth, your suggestions are exactly what I'm looking for -- and I will try them. I have not made Langues de Chat before, and I hadn't thought of a simple almond cookie. Almond cookies . . . ah . . . Kim, I'll try the Dream Cookies. Looks a little bit like a Snickerdoodle, I would have to compare the recipe. And Andie, thank you for the Cocoa Cookies. I will definitely try them. There's a taste that comes from cocoa that I find preferable in this sort of cookie, preferable to chocolate. I also use King Arthur's Black Cocoa to oomph a chocolate recipe. Thanks for the ideas! I just ordered some tea from Upton last night, so I'm going to need some cookies!

I'm trolling for ideas for plain and perfect baking -- the equivalent of the Lorna Doone or the Cameo sandwich cookie. Simple, pared down, delicious. My favorite is a cookie from King Arthur called the Vanilla Dream. It's all about the texture, which is achieved through baker's amonia. I'm a big fan of shortbread for this category, too. There's a recipe in the Williams Sonoma collection (the first ones, the green covers) of cookies for a candied ginger chocolate shortbread, which is my favorite, but is pushing the envelope way out here. Nick Malgieri's Hazelnut Brown Butter Financier comes to mind, too, although it also may not be plain enough. If we pushed far enough into chocolate, there's a plain little chocolate cookie in Alice Medrich's Bittersweet that is just . . . plain, but chocolate. It's not quite the right flavor for me, but fits this bill. I suppose these things are good with ice cream or sorbet . . . Ideas?

I'm inspired to get up early on Sunday and go to the Red Hook Fairway. I've been in it once, just to check it out, and found it overwhelming. I did pass by a pole in the produce section from which were hanging bags of dried chilis and quick-as-a-wink I pulled down two bags, one guajillo and one New Mexico. I use these for a particular chili sauce and I can never find them both at once at Chelsea Kitchen. I was impressed. I find as I get older and collect more nerve-jarring life experience, that it is impossible for me to endure the indignities that most New Yorkers do. For instance, the Chelsea Whole Foods I have walked out of twice, abandoning my cart in the middle of the store. I have been able to endure the Union Square Whole Foods, but only if I am listening to Lynn Rosetto Kasper on the iPod, then it's sort of a visual to go along with a very soothing known. Perhaps there should be valium dispensers, like a bubble gum machine, in the doorways. F.G., you warm my heart. Going shopping with your mom every Sunday morning. One of the happier memories of my childhood was accompanying my mom on her Friday night visit to Pick-N-Pay where my good behavior was rewarded with a box of animal crackers and a Jack and Jill magazine. Those were the days!

Thank you very much! Your photographs are wonderful. I love Diana Kennedy, I love huitlacoche, I love Mexico. I can imagine how thrilling this must have been. Very inspirational -- maybe I'll do the classes, too.

Vitamin water. What's up with that? It's interesting to me how political the underside of this thread is, and I'll drop my Carrie Nation hatchet and not go there, but the person who brought up microwave popcorn reminded me of this: You know how a bunch of people in the microwave popcorn flavoring factory got a deadly disease called bronciolitis obliterans? Well, a citizen finally got it. How? By spending ten years enjoying regular doses of microwave popcorn, the bags of which he opened and sniffed . . . ah . . . the aromas. I didn't know you could freeze bacon. Well, I'll be. I eat very little bacon, and I don't like smelling up my house and greasing up my stove for it, so I usually get an order at the coffeeshop and let them thicken the grease on their own exhaust system. But I could see cooking it and freezing it. Nice tip. Thanks. Pre-made jello. It is so hard to add some water to a box of chemicals? Pre-formed hamburger patties. It is so hard to pat them into place yourself? Or their identical cousin meat glued chicken formed into little drumsticks.

I use 00 from King Arthur. Makes a very tender pasta.

Thank you for the recipe -- did you like them? Are they buttery-tasting?

If you're like me, Deborah, you won't ever buy your ice cream again. I can't stand the taste of it since I've started using this book. I really have to thank David Lebovitz -- before this book I thought it was my cheap (the kind everybody has) ice cream maker. Now I know better. For as often as I eat ice cream, I don't mind planning for it and having superior ice cream. I never eat or drink dairy that isn't organic -- which is probably why I don't like store bought ice cream any more. Too chemically, too sweet, too too.

And? I was an avid reader of the butter tarts thread, but I confess I haven't made them yet. I like the look of those.

I've always wanted to make a concord grape pie. There are recipes in Martha Stewart's pie book and the Pie and Pastry Bible. Sort of like a key lime pie, but with grapes. Ahhhhhhh.

I was going to say lemon bars, and also flavored shortbread. Like pecan or ginger and chocolate.

I'm curious about the Stouffer's in the Pyrex and the cheesecake on the footed cake plate thing . . . Do you ever worry that your guests know?

In Corsica, I tried to order a mille feuille from a Belgian waiter. I ended up looking him in the eye and saying, "I'll have a Napoleon." It was torture until I got there. How about non pareil? It's not pastry, but it's sweet.

Wow. I'm in awe. My name is Linda and I thought it was just horrible when, with about 24 hours notice, I prepared these cocktail snacks for friends: A bowl of Trader Joe's chili lime peanuts that had been opened in the cupboard for a couple of months. Something I ate in Ohio once called crabgrass: saute onion in a stick of butter. Add a box of frozen chopped spinach that has been thawed. Add a can of crab meat from Costco. Serve on Triscuits. I did go through the Triscuits and put only the nice, whole squares into the bowl. I did not serve them out of the box. And the bottle of Belvedere was genuine.

I use a set of glass bowls I got at Williams Sonoma. When I bought mine, I got six in one size that holds about a cup. glass prep bowls Those are insanely great. I also have the Mario Batali bowls, two sets, and I like them for cooking when measurements don't have to be exact. I use my Chantal ramekins sometimes. I have 12 of those! I have some nested melamine mixing bowls from Pottery Barn and I use Mr. Tiny for spices. For liquids (a teaspoon of vanilla, for instance) I have two tiny measuring beakers. I got mine at antique stores but you can get a measuring shot glass at King Arthur. measuring shot

I get organic vegetables delivered weekly. You never know what you're going to get, and I ended up with three heads of cauliflower and a ton of potatoes. I made the potato cauliflower soup from Moosewood -- a double batch -- which also includes grated sharp cheddar from the giant block I'd gotten at Costco. This soup is good! I'm worried about freezing it (the cheese) but that's what I'm going to do. Love me a freezer filled with soup. Also made the yogurt herb bread from Mollie Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest, mentioned by another eGulleter. Deelishus.

I made the yogurt herb bread from Mollie Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest last night -- after reading about it on another thread. Extremely easy and very tasty.

HBK, Nick Malgieri has a terrific hazelnut brown butter financier in his cakes book. I can email it to you later. It's probably too much trouble for you right now. You have to peel hazelnuts. I think simple apple desserts are a good idea. The last time I was grief stricken, I remember pulling food back out of my mouth, I couldn't stand much more than scrambled eggs and English muffins. I'm sorry for your loss, and I hope that your friends will be comforted by your efforts.

Thanks, Andie. I know the jars of garlic you're talking about and the tins of olive oil. I'll give it a try!

My absolute favorite soup is turkey soup. I'm afraid I can't help you with a magic recipe, I make it like chicken soup. Adding an extra thigh or two is a good idea. I like to use a brown and wild rice mixture in it. Mmmmm. I can't wait for Thanksgiving -- even when I'm invited to someone's house, I make my own turkey so I can have the soup!

Sister Andie, Thank you so much for these wonderful recipes. I have a confession to make: I am afraid of canning. I'm fascinated by canning, I own several books, I collect recipes, but I'm afraid. You made the comment about garlic and botulism. What's up with that? Botulism? Argh. I am afraid of canning. Your disciple, Linda My meager contribution: Chili Colorado I freeze this in little half cup containers and put it on all sorts of things, but especially Trader Joe's chili cheese tamales, often adding guacamole, black beans, etc.

I use little Cutrite wax bags and change them often. I keep a passle of waxed bag wrapped cheeses in a Pyrex glass refrigerator container. The one that's about 7 by 4, glass lid. Easily found on eBay. If your cheese dries out, keep the rind (you can freeze it) and throw it in your next pot of soup for an extra dimension of flavor.

Excellent thread, and thank you, Anna, for the cheese muffins. I need exactly this sort of savory muffin -- I make and freeze soup all fall and winter and a savory muffin is the perfect go-with. Not a muffin, but Dorie Greenspan's sweet potato biscuits from her new book are really excellent, and freeze up for the soup thing nicely. Best muffin recipes I've tried came from the Williams Sonoma Muffin cookbook -- not the new one, the old one with the green cover. There's a recipe in there for an orange date muffin that is fabu. I use Manadrin oranges from the can for those, which makes them moister.

So many pancakes, so few mornings with enough time . . . My favorite pancake has a stick of butter in the recipe. A thin, rich pancake for special occassions. If I have buttermilk on hand, I like the Joy of Cooking buttermilk pancake. If I plan ahead, I like a pancake that starts by soaking oatmeal in buttermilk overnight. If I'm feeling rustic, I like a cornmeal pancake with pieces of corn in it. Banana is my favorite fruit add in, especially good in the butter pancake. Sometimes banana walnut. I like blueberries, of course, but I think fruit takes away from the texture of the pancake, better stewed and placed on top. I am in agreement that quality butter and real maple syrup (grade B, please) is essential, and no pancake tastes good without them. Thanks for the tip on the Marion Cunningham. Her Breakfast Book is one of my favorite cookbooks. Everything in it is tops. Growing up, my mother had a griddle in the stove. This is best. Second best is the electric griddle, you get wonderful results with that. Third best cast iron.

I did the pear sorbet from The Perfect Scoop, I added the candied ginger. His measurements are off -- four pears do not equal 2.5 pounds. I used six or seven and it still wasn't enough. I cut back on some of the water because I wasn't paying attention and overcooked the pears. Absolutely divine, out of this world. The pear flavor is perfectly offset by the delicate heat of the ginger. A very nice dessert for a meal that includes butternut squash or sweet potatoes.